A focused choice is the name the firm uses internally for a short, sharp engagement built around a single decision the client is trying to make. A focused choice almost always runs four to six weeks, uses a small senior team, and produces one written recommendation with a supporting model. Done well it is one of the most useful shapes of advisory work available to a founder or a board. Done badly it turns into a stretched out review that tries to cover everything and decides nothing.
The four traps to avoid
- Trap one, question drift. The brief starts as a clear question and ends as three overlapping questions that the team could not bring themselves to exclude. Write the question down on day one, circulate it to the decision maker, and refuse to change it without a dated note that records the change.
- Trap two, the infinite fact base. The team keeps collecting evidence because the evidence is interesting. Evidence collection is finished when a further week of work would not change the recommendation. Write that criterion down at the start of the engagement.
- Trap three, the late surprise. The team works alone for five weeks and then presents a surprise on the last Friday. Build one written checkpoint at the end of week two and a second checkpoint at the end of week four. A written checkpoint is a one page note, not a fifty slide deck.
- Trap four, the polite recommendation. The team knows the answer and writes around it because the answer is uncomfortable. Write the honest recommendation first, then write the context. The order matters.
What the client gets
A focused choice engagement produces a short written document, usually ten to twenty pages, that states the recommendation on page one, shows the working, and lists the specific conditions under which the firm would change its mind. It also produces a small financial model the client can keep, an interview library with a clear source map, and a working session with the people who will act on the recommendation.
The deliverable is deliberately short. A ten page document that a chief executive will actually read is worth more than a hundred page document that sits on a desk. The firm writes fewer pages on purpose.